Halfway through 2014, year-to-date auction volume was up nearly 4 percent against comparable weeks of 2013, according to the National Auto Auction Association.

In its latest Economic Dashboard, which is prepared by NAAA economist Ira Silver, the association indicates that auction volume in June was up 3.9 percent year-over-year (for comparable weeks), and through the first six months of the year, it has increased 3.8 percent.

With these types of gains in the amount of inventory flowing through the auction and other channels, dealers, it seems, are able to get their hands are more used cars for their lots, Auto Remarketing reported in its Power 300 Issue.

In fact, used days’ supply was projected to climb 2.4 percent in June, according to that month’s Retail Automotive Summary from CNW Research.

The late-model side of the market has been particularly fortunate when it comes to additional supply, NADA Used Car Guide said in a recent report.

Citing NADA’s used-vehicle supply forecast, the NADA Perspective report from May called for 8-percent growth in late-model supply this year, topped off with 9-percent growth next year.

NADA said that “combined, the 17-percent increase in used supply through 2015 will act as an additional catalyst supporting a continued increase in CPO sales.”

This monthly report from NADA Used Car Guide hammered home how the late-model supply that feeds certified pre-owned programs and CPO retail demand have been simultaneously growing in recent years – and this has been and will continue to be strong for certified sales.

“The sharp increase in CPO demand that has occurred over the past two years has come at an opportune time for manufacturers,” NADA UCG said.

“After years of declines stemming from the falloff in new-vehicle sales during the recession, late-model supply — or the primary pool from which CPO vehicles are derived — finally started growing again in 2013,” NADA added.

Interestingly, the growth in supply of CPO-friendly cars that began in 2013 occurred right after the certified market had just recorded two straight best-ever years.

With more bountiful supply of late-model units in 2013, the industry reached yet another record year for certified sales and appears headed that way again in 2014.

Jonathan Banks, NADA’s senior director of vehicle analysis and analytics, alluded to this growth during a press conference at January’s NADA Convention & Expo, when he said the record sum from 2013 would likely be “blown away” by what happens in 2014.

“The big story here is, there will be more availability for the franchised dealers for inventory for those CPO units, which is great for consumers and great for dealers,” Banks said during the press conference.

“We think that 2.1 million CPO sales (figure) … will be blown away, driven by the availability of lease returns that will inevitably come back in 2014,” he said.

And that could be quite a few.

During this a July conference call to discuss Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index movement for the second quarter, Manheim chief economist Tom Webb discussed the fleet and lease vehicles that were bought up three to four years ago and are now heading into the auction lanes.

While off-lease volume grew at a steady pace at auction so far in 2014, Manheim expects this rate to pick up even more during the second half of the year.

“They (off-lease volumes) are continuing to grow — we expected the increases in the back half of this year would be more than the first half, and that is the case,” said Webb. “Certainly the off-lease volume is tracking along with expectations. The percentage of those that end up in a traditional auction process is pretty much in line with expectations, as well.”

Webb pointed out that since residual values are very strong, a large percentage of these off-lease vehicles are still being bought by franchised dealers as well as lessees.

But, that said, the tides are turning.

“A greater number of off-lease units are getting into the auction environment — and not only that, the open auction environment, as well,” said Webb.

He pointed out that lease returns are growing at such a volume that the lessors and the franchised dealer network “cannot absorb” them all, pushing many units into the auction lanes.

And Webb said, “Bigger growth is yet to come.”

For more Power features and to check out the 2014 Auto Remarketing Power 300 Issue, click here.